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Thursday, June 19, 2008

The Buena Vista Garden, by Yarddawg

Droughts & Lawns

The bad news is we are still in a drought. The good news is there is hope. This link will take you to NC State Turffiles and offers some good information and advice on how save your lawn or help it survive but not necessarily thrive. This information is primarily for Tall Fescue which is the predominate grass in our area.

A NASA sponsored study estimate claims that almost 32 million acres of lawns are planted in the United States alone. Another estimate claims that somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-70 percent of U.S. residential water is used for landscaping, mostly for watering lawns.

A short list of lawn tips for summer on Tall Fescue:

1. Keep height of grass mowed to at least 3 1/2 to 4 inches 2. Do not bag grass clippings 3. Save water by following the NCSU Turfiles recommendations (1/2 inch of rainfall every 30-40 days should be sufficient to keep your lawn alive) 4. No fertilizer until at least mid-September 5. Pray for rain (it might be a good idea to make this tip #1)

Esbee note: Or you can do what I do, which is to never water your lawn, then if someone looks askance at your brown lawn, tell that person you practice "Darwinistic Gardening".

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About Me

I live in Winston-Salem with my husband and our two boys, ages seventeen and thirteen. My late father was a native of this city, and my late mother was a graduate of Salem College. After they married, they moved to Washington, DC, where I grew up, was married, and started my own family. Eleven years ago, I dragged them south and introduced them to backyard muscadines, the Dixie Classic Fair, and Moravian sugarcakes. They promptly declared Winston-Salem "home".